Madurai, July 4, 2013: The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department officials have made elaborate arrangements for the Kumbabishekam of the ancient Thiruvapudayar Temple in Sellur on July 14.

According to the officials, special pujas will be performed from July 10 onwards by Vedic pundits and priests. However, the local residents here have appealed to the authorities to clean the temple tank and keep the surroundings clean and tidy ahead of the grand celebration.

Even during the last Kumbabishekam, performed 12 years ago, the temple tank was left unattended, said Rajamanickam, a resident in the locality.

Today, the space near the tank is used to store goods and articles sent from different temples. Further, the tank is covered with a thick growth of bushes and all kinds of waste are dumped in it.

An elderly resident of Thiruvapudayar Street, Arockianathan, said, “About 30 years ago, the tank would hold water up to a depth of 10 feet and the entire temple glittered during nights. The surroundings too remained clean, free of pollution. Nowadays, even the compound wall of the temple is also not spared as people paste posters of all kinds on it,” he fumed.

Cattle menace

The freely roaming cattle in the locality were another eyesore. The people of the area had come to accept the pungent smell spread by them as inevitable. Repeated appeals by the residents to the Corporation to impound stray cattle had only fallen in deaf ears. The streets were cleaned only once a day, the local people said.

Cleanliness should be maintained at this ancient temple as devotees from far and near visited it. Moreover, Minister for Cooperation Sellur K. Raju was a resident of Sellur, a resident added.

When contacted, a HR and CE official said impounding stray cattle was the task of the Corporation authorities. The tank renovation would be taken up after the Kumbabishekam as it required larger fund approval, he added.

Source: The Hindu, DT. July 4, 2013.